During energy audits, lighting is probably the first place in a facility to look for savings because changes are usually easy, inexpensive and have a quick payback period. The first step is to assess current lighting conditions. Measuring current conditions against calculated upgrades will present the expected savings. Understanding current lighting conditions and needs will aid in determining applicable opportunities and recommendations. After analyzing the lighting loads in the facility, all the other electrical loads will need to be considered, including Cooling & Heating systems, Motors, etc.
Assess Existing Conditions
To conduct an audit, we will first need to gather basic information, such as the number of electrical loads, their location, and their time in use to help you understand the current energy use attributed to each of the electrical loads in the facility. This information will help you understand how much you are currently spending and the potential savings available from energy efficiency.
Methodology & Details
LESP prepares an Electrical Loads cost worksheet for each type of energy consumption load found in a facility to establish the individual costs found on the summary page of the payback work sheet. The electrical load cost worksheets include the costs to run the Energy Efficient electrical load which is recommended to replace the existing one.
Individual load Costs
These load Work Sheets are a part of the complete Payback Presentation & Establish for the Facility the overall costs per each load. The total cost of the electrical load is made up of 3 integral parts.
1) Cost Per Year – The actual watts that an existing load draws which is mathematically converted to Kilowatt Hours (KWH) which is how your utility company charges you. Once the KWH amount is established it is multiplied by the average of a customer’s bills. Generally, we try to have a winter bill, a summer bill and a fall bill, this way we take into consideration for averaging the higher kilowatt hour charges in the summer when utilities charge for extra A/C burden on the system. We then establish the customer’s usage period of the electrical load convert it to annual hours.
3) Maintenance Costs Per Year – The Maintenance Cost of loads is a true cost that all facilities encounter. In establishing maintenance cost, we use the existing manufacturers specification of the time the load will run, the rated time and the number of times a maintenance person or electrician will have to service the load. T
Current Load Cost Factor Comparison
Once these electrical loads worksheet cost calculations are established for each of the loads in the facility a Current electrical load Cost Factor Comparison Chart is generated. This compares the existing one with the Energy Efficient one recommended by us, that will retrofit the current electrical load.
Savings & Payback Calculations
If we talk about lighting loads; the individual fixture costs from the Fixture Cost Factor Comparison Table are then multiplied by the number of the fixtures in the area and presented in the Savings & Payback Calculation Table of the payback presentation to show the overall facility savings and paybacks. Current Costs, New Energy Efficient Fixture Costs, Annual Savings, Purchase of Energy Efficient fixtures and 50,000 hours savings are then all totaled. The Total Purchase of Energy Efficient fixtures for the facility is then divided by the Annual Savings which is multiplied by 12 to determine the payback to the customer in months. The payback is converted to annual dollar savings and the Cumulative totals indicate the dollars saved year by year. The Return on investment is based on the 50,000 hours savings total divided by the cost to retrofit to Energy Efficient fixtures equaling the percentage of return.
The Energy Audit is intended to be conservative. Contact us for a FREE ENERGY AUDIT. The information that you provide us will be kept confidential and will be used for energy saving assessment only.